I don't smoke and I need help with harvesting time.

[newbeegrow]

So I am new to growing and took this up as a hobby. I have a few plants in late harvest ( I think) 8weeks/1 day.. soil grow indoors with 400 watt mh light. started from bag seed from a friend and unknown strain origin or sativa or indica. Have been using beastie grow and the plants look healthy. They have nice flowers on them and I have been watching the trichomes carefully. I do not smoke and I hear everyone saying to harvest according to preference. Lol since I do not smoke I do not have one. I have been told by my friend that these plants were a 45 day cycle and against his judgement I have not chopped because they looked immature and I saw no amber trichomes. Here I am at 8 weeks and still no amber trichomes. Should I be worried? Also another quick question is we have had a dramatic temp drop and could that affect the grow? It seems they have stalled. On some of my plants they hairs have started turning amber(pistils) however still no amber trichomes. At least 50%of them turned. I guess I would just like to have a solid opinion one way or another. so much contradiction on different posts its hard, but still I navigate this road. Also when should I start my flush. I feel the harvest could be soon and I dont want to wait to long however I would like to flush and give it some time to dry out before harvest. some say one day flush some say 2 weeks flush and if I dont see amber trichomes is it too early to flush anyways? Please help if you have some good info... Don't want to come this far to !@#$ it up now!

newbeegrow Reviewed by newbeegrow on 11-28-2012. I don't smoke and I need help with harvesting time. So I am new to growing and took this up as a hobby. I have a few plants in late harvest ( I think) 8weeks/1 day.. soil grow indoors with 400 watt mh light. started from bag seed from a friend and unknown strain origin or sativa or indica. Have been using beastie grow and the plants look healthy. They have nice flowers on them and I have been watching the trichomes carefully. I do not smoke and I hear everyone saying to harvest according to preference. Lol since I do not smoke I do not Rating: 5

[low_rdr]

If the hairs are roughly 50% brown, you should be good to go. Check to make sure your trich's are at least milky, if they're clear, wait. I also want to make sure you understand that when we talk about trich color, we're using a microscope, not judging by eye. So be sure you keep this in mind. There are some strains that are purely a milky harvest. However, if your growing from bagseed and an unknown strain, do it right, don't listen to your friend (good call on that one) and keep checking your trichs, if they are milky, and starting to fall, harvest - This will give a good heady high, and the longer it cures, the more couchlock you'll get, but please keep in mind without pictures, there isn't much I can add.

Sativa is a long slender leaf, typically a little more like a tree when its not trained

Indica is a fat broad leaf, typically a shorter more bushlike plant

Something imbetween looks like your normal shots of basic weed aka MIDS

Post some pics

[newbeegrow]

Attachment 288060Attachment 288061 Ok so I think I have attatched a couple pictures. First I am using a microscope and to be honest it looks like the trichomes are still clear and are most plentiful at the top. with some cloudy ones in there. second what is cough lock or couch lock? also I think they are indica's then because they have a fat leaf however they seem to be tall and lanky.. Ideas? let me know if you see the pictures.. also any Ideas on flushing?

[low_rdr]

It appears as if one is a sativa, and one is a hybrid. That might possibly be AK47.

Its too early to harvest, your hybrid is no where near flushing yet, and still has several more weeks to go, I would honestly wait another week or so and get some molasses in there right now, as well as some super bloom, tiger bloom, or anything like that to help those buds densen up and thicken up real fast.

The AK looking one would have benefited from some topping, however, give her another 3 or 4 solid feedings to help those buds out, and as soon as all those trichs on her are cloudy, flush, 3 days of complete darkness (closet or cabinet somewhere) and then harvest.

The 3 days of complete darkness will help your overall yield, the plant takes the sugar from the molasses, and crystallizes the buds trying to preserve the plant for as long as possible, giving you a nice frosty finish!

[newbeegrow]

Ok so thank you so much for your help so far. Unfortunately these pics are about 3 weeks old and It won't let me post new ones from today. Do I actually put molassis in there or do I water it down? also I think they all should have been topped because they all look exactly the same. will the molassis hurt my chances of reveging these plants? Will colder temps slow down growth?

[low_rdr]

Colder temps will slow down growth on all but the best strains, and even some of those.

You put 1 tsp of molasses into 1 gallon of water, use this instead of plain water in your feeding rotation
Will it affect reveg? Honestly, I wouldn't trim a rootball of bagseed, just order seeds, they'll germinate faster than your reveg will, and you'll know the genetics.
The other option would be to take a few cuttlings now from lower branches that aren't budding much or have no buds, and try to get them to root by putting them under 24/0 and a humid dome for a few weeks, giving them a few minutes of air each day gradually adding more. Then switching them into a 18/6 schedule.

Revegging the rootball will take longer than trying to cross flowering clones back into veg. Its more than possible to do, and its a bit more advanced, but honestly, seems like you got a green thumb, I'd give it a shot (oh, make sure you follow the regular cloning guide...)

[newbeegrow]

Attachment 288062Attachment 288062Attachment 288063 ok so these are up to date photos. are you saying I could take sugar leaf clippings this far into flowering to clone? and thank you for the advice on the molassis. also its pretty hard to order seeds here in the US so if you have any ideas on that let me know.

[newbeegrow]

what part of the plant would i take clones from on the plant. the bud branches or the sugar-leaf branches and this late in the flowering stage?

[billydakid6812]

I think it's a little too early another few weeks and flush a week in advance so you don't get a chemical harsh smoke, remember it takes more than one day for the plant to actually flush out and replace the fertilizer water mixture with straight water. They look awesome though great job

[newbeegrow]

Thank you so much for all of your advice... I just experimented with taking clones and I took branches that had the smallest buds on them. I hope I was right.. Ok so I will continue beastie feed for one more week and then do 3-1 water to soil the following week. then just regular water for the remainder of time till harvest. Do you have a personal opinion about amber trichome ratio when best to harvest? so many different opinions.. Is there another kind of chat we could do instead of this way to talk faster?